Why Blacks Left America for Africa: Interviews with Black Repatriates, 1971-1999

Why do Black Americans go to Africa? How do they react to their ancestral motherland? Why do some return to the States and others remain? Obviously each has an individual story, but in these in-depth interviews, Professor Robert Johnson gives voice to many of their reasons and responses.

The interviews speak to the essential question of Black Americans and their links―emotional, spiritual, and even physical―to Africa, or the lack thereof. After an introductory survey of efforts from the 18th century onward to relocate back to Africa, Johnson presents the interviews conducted from the early 1970s and onward. The voices are both male and female, and the reactions cover a range of responses, all of which makes this compelling reading for students and researchers of cultural diversity, Black studies, American studies, ethnic studies, and African studies.